Intuit has spent the last two years saying free is not free and using products that initially have no charge to hook customers who will buy more services. But in this week's third-quarter earnings conference call, CEO Brad Smith said Intuit has downplayed the use of the free QB Simple Start package. Instead, Intuit is putting emphasis on getting new customers into the product franchise via offerings such as the QuickBooks Online edition and its Web site service. Read more...